Lost deposit refund

Helpmeouthere

Morning all,

A nephew of mine started a University course last September and had to pay an accomodation deposit to the University. His Grandmother paid the deposit through her bank account using her debit card. Nephew's course has now ended and the University has refunded the deposit to Grandma's bank account at the end of June.

Unfortunately Grandma passed away in April, so her bank account has been closed. The University finance department advises it could be up to SIX months before the deposit is returned to them and they can refund the deposit.

Does this sound right?

G

pramsay13

I guess they are just giving a worst case scenario so you don't get disappointed. 
Maybe try grandma's bank to ask how quickly they are likely to return money sent to a closed account and if there's any way of speeding it up. 

Helpmeouthere

Thanks for the prompt reply,

I've spoken to Grandma's bank twice now, on both occasions they advised that because the account was closed at the end of April the refund would never have got to them. The University finance department provided an ARN number to track the payment, but Grandmas bank said that the number was irrelevant as the refund could not have been made...I find it hard to believe that in these days of computer banking neither side can trace this payment.

penners324

If it's to a closed account the refund will bounce back the same day

wmb194

penners324 said:

If it's to a closed account the refund will bounce back the same day

Was it to the account or to the debit card, though? If it was to the debit card it could be sitting in a suspense account pending someone looking into it.

boingy

The money has almost certainly already been bounced back to the university's bank. So you are at the mercy of the university's finance department, and I don't imagine they employ people from the more, um, motivated end of the scale (!)

I suggest phoning them up and telling them that the bank says the payment has already been returned. When they wriggle, ask to escalate it and enquire about their complaints procedure and also ask them if they will be paying interest on the money they owe. This may seem over the top but you need to persuade them that the easier option is to track down the money rather than fob you off.

artyboy

Are you an executor/administrator for Grandma? Because that refund will form part of her estate and really is down to whoever is administering the estate to track down and then distribute appropriately. 

Point being, even once found, it's not like the university should just be paying it out to you or your nephew. Depending on the size of Grandma's estate, it could even be liable for 40% IHT. So needs to be handled correctly...

Zanderman

artyboy said:

Are you an executor/administrator for Grandma? Because that refund will form part of her estate and really is down to whoever is administering the estate to track down and then distribute appropriately. 

Point being, even once found, it's not like the university should just be paying it out to you or your nephew. Depending on the size of Grandma's estate, it could even be liable for 40% IHT. So needs to be handled correctly...

Fair point in principle - but the OP's previous thread is about probate and the death in April, so I think the OP is probably fully aware of the issues.

phillw

Helpmeouthere said:

The University finance department provided an ARN number to track the payment, but Grandmas bank said that the number was irrelevant as the refund could not have been made...

They should still be able to trace it though. I'd make a complaint that they are refusing to trace the ARN provided to them.

Either they won't be able to find it, they will see the transaction went awry or it was bounced back. Refusing to trace it means you can't go back to the university and tell them "the bank has given me proof it was returned to you at x time on y date".

They can say "we believe it should have been bounced back" but until they give you proof of that then you're stuck.

And that is certainly enough to make a complaint. I'd ask them for £100 compensation for that too, especially as it's related to a bereavement.

If you aren't already dealing with the banks bereavement team, then I would suggest including in the complaint that you weren't signposted to the bereavement team.

Helpmeouthere

Thanks for the replies, I am the executor for Grandma's will, that's why I'm involved.

I made two enquiries to Grandma's bank one was a general enquiry and then I subsequently spoke to the bereavement team, on both occasions they didnt refuse to trace the ARN number, Phillw, they suggested that they couldn't use the ARN number to trace the payment because the account had been closed.

I think my next move will be to ask the University Finance Department about their complaints procedure and ask for the email address of the head of finance as boingy suggests.